Big Boss Interview

We start the programme looking at the the angry clashes between Russian and US envoys at the UN Security Council. The US called a meeting to discuss the build up of some 100,000 Russian troops on on its borders with Ukraine. US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the mobilisation was the biggest Europe had seen in decades. Her Russian counterpart accused the US of fomenting hysteria and unacce...

The big event of 2021 that will shape economies all over the world for decades to come was the COP 26 climate conference in Glasgow in November. The meeting saw a deluge of promises, but what was actually achieved? Martin Webber speaks to Tim Gould, chief energy economist at the International Energy Agency and economist Irwin Stelzer, from the Hudson Institute in the United States. It was another...

A key senator has indicated he will not vote for President Biden's Build Back Better plan. We explore the potential impact on the economy with US economist Ken Rogoff. Also in the programme, the government of Ghana intends to introduce an e-levy tax on "mobile money" transactions. Plus, business correspondent Carrie Davies explains how the BBC has discovered that Covid passes are being advertised...

Tesla surpassed a market value of $1 trillion on Monday, making it the fifth such firm to reach the milestone. Shares in the electric automaker climbed 12.6% after it struck a deal to sell 100,000 vehicles to the international car rental company Hertz. We speak to Bloomberg's Business reporter Dana Hull about Tesla's fortunes. Also in the programme, Facebook's latest financial results showed bette...

Residents in north-east China are experiencing unannounced power cuts, as an electricity shortage which initially hit factories spreads to homes. Philippe Benoit at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, explains why this is significant. Also in the programme, Germany's centre-left SPD party has claimed victory in the federal election. Parties will now try to form a coalition g...

Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou is released after nearly three years under house arrest in Canada, the BBC’s Gordon Correra has the details. China’s central bank bans all cryptocurrency activity in the country, sending the price of Bitcoin tumbling – cryptocurrency author Glen Goodman tells us more. Marketplace’s Kai Rysdell talks toothpaste, deodorant and supply chain woes, and Vict...

The embattled Chinese real estate firm Evergrande reaches the deadline for interest payments on its bonds – will Beijing step in to shore up the company? We speak to Sara Hsu, Associate Professor of Economics at the State University of New York. Erin Delmore is in Berlin to take us through the last days of campaigning in Germany’s general election, the vote will decide who replaces Angela Merkel a...

Biden said there was never a good time to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan, but the situation has "unfolded quicker than expected". Dr Kamran Bokhari, director of analytical development at the Newlines Institute in Washington DC tells us that a lack of effective political and economic governance led the Afghan National Army to melt away and let the Taliban re-take the country. Plus, Daniel Aran...

In Australia's biggest ever buyout, Jack Dorsey's Square has offered to buy Afterpay. Jonathan Shapiro writes about banking and finance at The Australian Financial Review, and tells us what is so attractive about the $29bn 'buy now, pay later' giant. As day 12 of the Olympics begins in Tokyo, we hear whether Japan's hosting of the games is still unpopular given the mounting costs and increasing co...

In a blow to the UK's tourist and aviation industries, the CDC has advised US citizens against travel to the country. We hear more from travel expert, Simon Calder. In Germany, catastrophic flooding has left at least 160 people dead and more than 170 others missing; later this week, Angela Merkel is expected to roll out an emergency aid package for those affected. We hear from the BBC's Damien McG...

Face masks will no longer be legally required and distancing rules will be scrapped at the final stage of England's Covid lockdown roadmap, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has confirmed. The rule of six inside private homes will be removed and work-from-home guidance abolished as 16 months of on-off restrictions on daily life end. But is it too soon? Chinese authorities have frozen several prominent...

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has begun the inquiry into last December's cyber attack on the IT provider, media reports say. It will ask whether some companies failed to disclose they had been affected. Our technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones explains the story. As India offers its free vaccinations to all adults, human rights activist Manjula Pradeep of the Wayve Foundati...

Search giant Google is to pay a $267m fine in France because of its advertising dominance. Katrin Schallenberg is an antitrust expert with Clifford Chance, and explains the background to the case. As some companies turn to anthropology to balance the insights of algorithms and AI, should all businesses now have an anthropologist on their books? We hear from Gillian Tett the author of Anthro-Vision...

The Colonial fuel pipeline, shut down by a cyber attack since Friday, serves 45% of America's east coast. A regional state of emergency has been declared, allowing tanker drivers to work extra hours to get some fuel where it's needed – but will they be able to keep up with demand? We ask Ellen R Ward, president of Transversal Consulting. Is it a surprise that criminals were able to hack into the s...

Apple has released its latest software update with a new tool that has forced a confrontation with Facebook over privacy; the BBC's Technology Correspondent Rory Cellan Jones explains the controversy. As an international effort is underway to help India as it faces an overwhelming surge in coronavirus cases, we hear how the US, the UK, China, Russia, the European Union Saudi Arabia are among those...

Pubs, restaurants, beauty salons and non-essential shops have reopened with the easing of lockdown restrictions across England. We hear from the heart of London’s shopping district and from a pub garden near Reading. The e-commerce giant Alibaba has been accused of anti-competitive practices and fined more than $2.5 billion by Chinese regulators. We discuss what this will mean for the future of th...

Switzerland's Credit Suisse and Japan's Nomura have seen their shares take a sharp fall after warning they could face losses of billions of dollars. The two large banks lent money to crisis-hit US investment fund, Archegos Capital, which was forced to liquidate billions of dollars’ worth of shares last Friday. We hear from Financial Times Correspondent Ortenca Aliaj and financial lawyer Mark Berma...

Texas's Brazos Electric Power Co-operative has filed for bankruptcy after winter storms. The firm says it's facing a $1.8bn bill as a result of last month's disruption, and Bloomberg's Jeremy Hill explains the implications. Also in the programme, starting a week of special programming about mental health and the pandemic, the BBC's Manuela Saragosa reports on what more businesses and governments c...

Google has agreed to pay Rupert Murdoch's News Corp for content from news sites across its media empire. Meanwhile, Facebook has announced it is banning the publishing and sharing of news on its platform in Australia. This follows moves by the Australian Government to make digital giants pay for journalism. We get the thoughts of Peter Lewis, Director of the Centre of Responsible Technology and is...

Around 150 million Americans have been advised to take precautions as an unprecedented winter storm continues to cause havoc across twenty five US states. In one of the worst affected states, Texas, more than four million people are without power as a surge in demand caused the power grid to fail. We hear how ageing infrastructure, unregulated grid and climate change have all contributed to the si...

In her own words "history was made" today when Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala became the first woman and the first African director general of the World Trade Organization. She tells us how she plans to reform the WTO and the importance of climate change. Also in the programme, the global economic cost of the Coronavirus pandemic will run into trillions of dollars. Could the world set up a better early warni...

72 tennis players at the Australian Open are facing 14 days stuck in Melbourne Hotels after positive Covid-19 cases on their inbound planes; We discuss whether the Covid-19 pandemic is still a big threat to major sport events including the Tokyo Olympics. We'll hear the latest on the US Capitol as DC remains on high alert ahead of President-Elect Joe Biden's inauguration on Wednesday. Car and elec...

A merger between Fiat Chrysler and PSA has won approval from the companies' shareholders. The new company will be called Stellantis and we ask why has Fiat agreed to be subsumed into an ever bigger group. Also in the programme, more than 200 workers at Google-parent Alphabet have formed a labour union. It marks a seismic shift in Silicon Valley, where unions are a rarity and relations with organis...

Brexit talks stall prompting a meeting for later this week, between the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen and the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. We will hear what is at stake for both sides with analysis from Carsten Brzeski, from ING in Frankfurt. We will also consider the future of Venezuela, after President Maduro and his allies won political control, but the st...

US President Donald Trump accepts that the formal transition to Joe Biden's White House can finally begin and it's reported that Mr Biden will nominate Janet Yellen, a former head of the Federal Reserve, as his Treasury secretary - we hear from Samira Hussain, our American Business Correspondent. There's more good news on the coronavirus vaccines front as it's announced that the AstraZeneca/Oxford...